The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has ordered a criminal case opened after a child poured water on an eternal flame memorial, the agency’s press service said on Sunday.
The statement said the incident should be investigated as an “act of desecration of a symbol of military glory.” That offense is outlined in Article 354.1 of the Russian Criminal Code on the “rehabilitation of Nazism.”
According to the regional office of the Interior Ministry, the flame was extinguished by a child born in 2017. “Juvenile affairs officers held a preventive conversation with the child and his legal guardians and identified the reasons for his actions,” the ministry said in a statement. It did not disclose why the child poured water on the flame. The case materials have been forwarded to the local juvenile commission.
The incident took place in the village of Semibratovo, in the Yaroslavl region, on June 12 — Russia Day. A video of the episode circulated two days later on the Telegram channel 112, which is linked to Russian security services. The footage shows a child approaching a World War II memorial on a bicycle and pouring a water bottle onto the eternal flame. After the flame goes out, he pours more water on it, sets the bottle down, and rides away.
In recent years, there have been several incidents across Russia involving the extinguishing of eternal flame memorials. Authorities have responded by opening criminal cases under articles related to “vandalism” and the “rehabilitation of Nazism.”
Earlier in June, Deputy Justice Minister Elena Ardabyeva said the Justice Ministry had begun discussing a proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 14. According to RBC, the Prosecutor General’s Office has also proposed lowering the minimum age for prosecution in cases involving the desecration of military memorials. Under current Russian law, criminal liability begins at age 14 for certain offenses.